The martyrdom of three soldiers and the killing of 15 militants in two intelligence-based operations, one in Dera Ghazi Khan district, and the other in the ex-tribal district of North Waziristan, show that the flame of insurgency has not been uprooted in the area. This is not for want of military effort, as the area has been subjected to continuous military operations for over two decades, including by a multi-division task force. What may have been lacking, is an ideological component to the military force provided by the Army. The Army escapes blame entirely, because apart from its not being its job to provide that component, the job is that of the state and society from which all; militants, military and government; originate from. It is not a matter of sending people into militant areas with loudspeakers, shouting how great the society is. The society must by example show the militants the kind of society they would live in once they put down their arms.
Pakistani society is such that militants, already radicalized, are seen as representing the evil they are fighting against. One consequence is that the militants will always have a supply of recruits, for its best recruiting agent turns out to be ‘the slings and arrows of outrageous Fortune’ cast by everyday society. It is not enough to contain the militancy in one area. The badlands of Waziristan flow naturally into Dera Ghazi Khan, and thus into Sindh and Baluchistan. These are all areas where the state has failed, even on its own terms of development. It is not enough for these areas to be thrown the bone of better job opportunities, but for the youth of the area to be given an alternative vision to that offered by the militants.
KP has got two different militant insurgencies to overcome, though it is possible to see that they may have the same origin. It is also worth noting that the victim list of the Libyan boat tragedy had a larger number of names fairly screaming their origin in this area. While militancy in North Waziristan may result from underdevelopment and the violence in Kurram because of sectarianism, at the same time, families are doing their best to send their children abroad, for at least an illegal immigrant is live, even if he does backbreaking labour for a paltry sum and is in perpetual fear of immigration authorities.
